Brave New Hungary: Mapping the "System of National Cooperation"

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Brave New Hungary focuses on the rise of a brave new anti-liberal regime led by Viktor Orbn who made a decisive contribution to the transformation of a poorly managed liberal democracy to a well-organized authoritarian rule bordering on autocracy during the past decade. Emerging capitalism in post-1989 Hungary that once took pride in winning the Eastern European race for catching up with the West has evolved into a reclusive, statist, national-populist system reminding the observers of its communist and pre-communist predecessors. Going beyond the self-description of the Orbn regime that emphasizes its Christian-conservative and illiberal nature, the authors, leading experts of Hungarian politics, history, society, and economy, suggest new ways to comprehend the sharp decline of the rule of law in an EU member state. Their case studies cover crucial fields of the new authoritarian power, ranging from its historical roots and constitutional properties to media and social policies. The volume presents the Hungarian System of National Cooperation as a pervasive but in many respects improvised and vulnerable experiment in social engineering, rather than a set of mature and irreversible institutions. The originality of this dystopian new world does not stem from the transition to authoritarian control per se but its plurality of meanings. It can be seen as a simulacrum that shows different images to different viewers and perpetuates itself by its post-truth variability. Rather than pathologizing the current Hungarian regime as a result of a unique master plan designed by a cynical political entrepreneur, the authors show the transnational dynamic of backsliding a warning for other countries that suffer from comparable deadlocks of liberal democracy.

Reviews

As can be expected in a volume devoted to an elite vision of social transformation, less emphasis is placed on the social origins of the regime and the public perceptions that have facilitated its emergence. The changes in the educational system beyond the university sector, the regulation of political parties and the shifts in foreign policy attitudes could form separate chapters. Still, the breadth of issues covered in a single volume is remarkable and will ensure that students find the book an excellent source of information and expert insights on a wide range of questions pertaining to Hungary's political, legal and social system, including the survey of existing perspectives on the causes and implications of Hungarian regime change.

This is a useful collection of articles on an important issue in contemporary European politics ----the question of what to do about the authoritarian.

Author Bio

Jnos Matyas Kovcs is senior member in the Institute of East European History at the University of Vienna. Balazs Trencsenyi is professor of history at Central European University.